These days it seems I live in a hot house of never-ending upheaval. Maintaining my composure, not to mention enough focus to get any work done, is a daily struggle. Yes, I set my daughter up for an exciting summer of different camp programs. And, while she comes home every day sweaty and smiling, she still has energy to give her mom a lot of sass.

Stress and strain at home have made her prickly, and I have to remember to be gentle (but firm) with her. Meanwhile, it has been more than a year since my mother was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. She is doing much better these days, but the doctor’ still won’t let her stop getting chemo. Understandably emotional and sometimes sick, she thinks they may keep her on chemo for the rest of her life. Since she lives downstairs from me, I am often on call to take her to doctor’s visits. Somehow, leaving Jersey to drive through the Lincoln Tunnel in the middle of the day tends to take a bite out of my work day, you know?  It’s also a bit distracting to be in the home office working on a deadline and be interrupted by a call from mom, who needs me to come downstairs and disconnect her chemo pump (which entails, in part, pulling two needles out of her chest.)

Then there is my sister, who is severely disabled from a car wreck she was in years ago. When the heat wave hit, my sister (who has a small apartment in upstate New York and nearly round-the-clock caretakers) did not have an air conditioner. I had to intervene and make sure she got one; everyone was worried about her paying the electricity bill. I was worried about her dissolving into a puddle of sweat. [Read more...]